EPW023826 ENGLAND. Gildersome Iron Works, Gildersome, 1928

Hudson foundry was one of the largest industrial and narrow gauge railway manufacturers in Britain, their trackand "V" or "rugga" waggons are world famous, they built hundreds of miles of temporary track and waggons for the railways of the western front in world war one, and in co-operation with Hunslet engine company in leeds they also built steam and petrol locos



http://www.leedsengine.info/leeds/histhud.asp

https://www.flickr.com/photos/trolleyfan/7139792573/



if you look on here, there are Hudson wagons and a Hudson point lever:

http://www.ingr.co.uk/equip_sale.html



and some survivors on the ffestiniog railway:

http://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/Skips

http://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/Hudson_Crate_Waggons

http://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/RAFs

http://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/MoDs



the circular trak was to test their locos abd wagons round the tight corners that they were built for



theres a lot more I could go into, but ill leave it for now.

Definitely Gildersome Foundry. Compare field boundaries with 1st Series 25000 OS map on National Library of Scotland.

http://maps.nls.uk/os/25k-gb-1937-61/view/?jp2=91788835#jp2=91788835&zoom=0&lat=16762&lon=15288&layers=BT

I think I've found it. It's the Gildersome Foundry of Robert Hudson Ltd. If I'm correct, the lane on the right of the photo passing under the railway is Nepshaw Lane. The railway is gone and there's very little else left.

In the 1970's I once visited a United Carriers Depot at Gildersome. I think the address was Gildersome New Road. Does anyone know if it was near this location?

According to Wikipedia Robert Hudson Ltd. was a major supplier of light railway materials and had an internal 2foot gauge tramway. It also had a connection to the Great Northern line from Wakefield to Bradford. The Morley Tunnel of the London & North Western Railway would have run underground in the vicinity of the works which could explain the airshafts.

Well done Tiny Tim! You've got this one. It all stacks up and explains why there is a tramway in the works. The old maps show everything as it was in the photo.

I've found a map on Old Maps which shows the Gildersome Foundry with the LNER railway from Ardsley to Laisterdyke marked. Nepshaw Lane has the alignment of the road to the right of the photogrsph. There is a tunnel underneath the area called Gildersome Tunnel and it aligns very well with the airshafts.

Yes, that's definitely it! The air vents are from the Gildersome railway tunnel, and as Hudson's specialised in narrow gauge rail technology it's no surprise that they have a circular miniature railway on site. The embankment on the left carries what is now Asquith Avenue. The houses at the extreme top right of the photo are still there, although the 'chapel' building is actually only a single storey, and presently some kind of health clinic. The big house below Asquith Avenue, Dean Hall, has gone, replaced by modern housing. The M621 has changed the landscape a bit. The railway is the LNER, formerly the Great Northern. There are further sidings belonging to the factory out of shot to the left. Noticeably absent are Hudson's two Bessemer converters, these might also be out of shot (they'd be quite a fire hazard) or may have gone out of use in the post-WWI economic depression.

There is something rather strange about this picture of what appears to be a relatively flat landscape with railway and main road crossing it while the ventilation shafts suggest another railway or canal below the surface. As a railway would seem unlikely, a number of canals have been checked but no useful evidence has been found. It does not seem to be linked to its neighbouring numbers which are for Stanningley near Shipley and Chadkirk near Stockport.

John and Glen pointed out the airshafts. There can't be many places where one substantial railway crosses another in a lengthy tunnel, so that must narrow the location down a bit?

There is a good deal of disturbed land to the right of the picture. Perhaps this is to do with sand & gravel extraction/brick and tile manufacture? There are a few wagons waiting in the siding to be filled? There are what might be stacks of tiles/bricks etc all over the site. And I am wondering if the dark shape near the horse could be the remnants of an excavator (it doesn't look quite right for a building).

If the circular railway is a recreational feature that would go well with the tennis courts next door. Not many employers provided facilities like this.

The circular track is very small, compare the size of the 'engine' to the (further away) wagons on the railway. If it's actually rails it must be narrow gauge, almost miniature. Who would need such a facility? There doesn't seem to be any access from the rest of the site.